Machine for surface-finishing pilous materials



Oct. 22, 1940. I G, FARR 2,219,128

MACHINE FOR SURFACE-FINISHING PILOUS MATERIALS Im/E/vrof? Oct. 22, 1940. 1 G. F. FARR MACHINE FOR SURFACE-FINISHING PILGUS MATERIALS 'Filed Ooi.

* Mgr 5% HrraR/vf/ Patented Oct. 22, 1940 UNiTED STATES MACHINE Fon SURFACE-'FINISHING P ILoUs MATERIALS George Frederick Farr, Luton, England Application October 9, 193'?, Serial No. 168,116`

In Great Britain March 9v, 1937 5 Claims. (C1. 2'6-27') This invention relates to machines for surfacenis'hing pilousmaterials, and is primarily. concerned with means for imparting to felt hat materials finishing treatments known as suedeing and ratinier effect.

In a machine according to the present invention for surface-finishing pilous. materials, the material to be treated is engaged between a pair of pads at least one ofwhich is driven for eccentric movement, there being provided a plurality of feed rollers atleast one of which is driven for feeding the material between the pads, means being provided for bringing the pads into working engagement with the surfacerof the material.

With suedeing the material has a somewhat dull nish resembling that of suede, and for producing that nish the material-needs to be fed fairly rapidly between the pads. On the other hand, with the ratinier effect, groups of close fibres are twisted up into separate little curls or tufts, and to produce that effect it is necessary that the material shall be fed past the pads relatively slowly; in fact the effect may even be improved if the material is held stationary between the pads for some few seconds and then moved on again step by step as small areas of the material are treated. Inorder that both suede and ratinier effects may be done on the one machine, it is contemplated'that provision may be made for varying the rate at which the feed rollers operate, or even for rendering them ineffective.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Figure l is a side elevation of the-machine according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a detail sectional side elevation showing how eccentric movement of the driven pad is effected.

As shown in Figure l, the pad elements for operating upon the material comprise the eccentrically movable pad 3 and the axially movable pad 4. Both pads preferably have renewable coverings, and any convenient method of attaching such coverings may be employed. 'I'he pad 4 acts in the manner of a support for the material to be treated, while the pad 3 is eccentrically mounted so that it performs a substantially circular movement over the surface of the material resting on the pad 4. For convenience, it is generally preferred to have the pads mounted with their axes vertical. Adjacent the driven pad 3 is a driven feed roller 5, while adjacent the pad 4 is a freely rotatable feed roller 6. The

Dad 4 is mounted for axial movement so that it,

with the material resting on it, can be moved towards the driven pad v3. Thepad 4 is borne upon the shaft l, sliding in the bearing 8 extending from the main body casting 9 of the machine, and a treadle I0 is provided pivoted about the axis I I and coupled to the axially movablel shaft I by the links I2, I3 and I4 so that by pressing upon the treadle I the pad 4 may be caused toapproa'ch thedrivenhpad' 3. The arrangement is ,l such that thepad 4 tends tol remain in its lowermost position Yu'ntilthe treadle IIIisI operated to pressit up. On the shaft I there is mounted a bearing I5 carrying a bracket `II upon which the freely rotatable feed roller 6 is mounted. The v;, buffer spring Il is providedk to give the supporting feed roller 6 some measure of resilience, while the end nut Ijcan if desired be slackened off. When the axially` movable pad 4 is. raised to grip the material, the feed roller 6 will also approach the driven feed roller 5, -causing the material to be gripped for feeding forward. If it is desired to render the feed rollers ineffective, the nut I8 can be slackened olf and the free feed roller dropped.

It will be appreciated thatso long as the pad 4 can be moved axially, taking the feed roller 6 upwards with it, there -is no need for any drive t'o be imparted either tothe pad 4 itself or to the feed roller 6, and itis therefore yconvenient to provide the driveny pad 3 and the driven roller 5 on a projecting head casting I9 provided on the top of the body casting 9. The pad 3 is carried for eccentric movement with respect to the shaft extending vertically through the head casting I9. On the shaft 20 is a pulley, indicated in i broken lines by the reference numeral 2l. Drive is transmitted to the shaft 20 by a belt, indicated at 22, which leads from the motor pulley 23 over the intermediate pulley, or preferably a pair of pulleys 24 mounted on the. transverse axis. t Conveniently, the driving means ofthe machine will comprise an electric" motor, such as 25, mounted uponva lsupport 26 adjustable by means of oneV or more bolts such as 21 for varying the tension of the belt 22'. 45

The driven pulley 5, which is borne on a bracket 28 at each end of it, is driven by the flexible drive shaft 29 extending up from a reduction gearbox 30 provided on the end of the motor shaft remote from the pulley'23. One of the brackets 28 will preferably include the extension 3| serving to receive one end of the flexible drive shaft 29 from which the roller 5 will be driven, preferably byk means of bevel gearing.

Although a satisfactory finish may be provided with the ordinary substantially circular movement of the driven pad 3, it is preferred that the pad 3 shall be restrained against rotation about its own axis with respect to the shaft 20, and there is therefore provided on the head 32 which carries the pad 3 a projection 33 bored for the reception of the rod 34 which is borne in the pivoted eye 35 extending down from the bracket 36. This arrangement is more clearly shown in the detail view comprising Figure 2, and there is also shown in Figure 2 the bearing for the eye 35, which eye is carried on the rod 31 rotatable within the bracket 36, but resiliently supported thereinby the spring 38. The spring 38`ensures that' the eye can find its own level with respect to the projection 33, and that there will thus be no need for accurately aligning the projection 33 with the eye 35 to prevent jamming of the rod 34.

In addition to showing more clearly and in greater detail the means for restraining the free rotation of the head 32, Figure 2 also shows the eccentric axis 39 of the head which extends from the boss 40 mounted concentrically on the threaded portion 4I of the shaft 20.

It has been found that highly satisfactory results are produced where the work-supporting pad comprises a washleather cover over a metal head, and the reciprocating driven pad is comprised by a soft rubber covering over thesteel head, the rubber being itself covered with washleather, It can be considered therefore that it is desirable that the work-supporting roller should be of a fairly rigid nature, while the driven eccentrically rotating roller which en gages the actual surface under treatment shall be of a somewhat resilient nature. It may be mentioned that a washleather or similar skin material will producethe ratinier effect, but if an abrasive surface such as sandpaper is used, the finish will be sueded.

In operation, the material, or maybe the hat under treatment, is engaged over the work-supporting pad and between the feed rollers, after which the treadle is operatedto cause the worksupporting pad to approachthe driven pad. so that the material is gripped between the two pads.

, In point of fact, the machine has been evolved for working upon the surfaces of materials in the nature of fur-felt used in hat-making, but it will be appreciated that it can be applied equally well tothe treatment of other textile materials.

For the suede-finish, the driverspeed of the shaft 20 would be from 1900 to 2500 R. P. M., whereas for the ratinier-finish that speed would be reduced to about 800 R.. P.VM. with the feed roller speed reduced accordingly, but in some cases the feed rollers may be rendered ineffective when the machine is being used for the ratinier finish.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for surface-finishing hats made of felt and like pilous materials and for surfacefinishing such materials, comprising a pad driven to move eccentrically but restrained against rotation and fixed in an axial sense; a cooperating pad movable in an axial sense only; means -mounting said second pad for movement in said axial sense, treadle means for effecting movement of said pad-mounting means to cause axial movement of said cooperating pad to bring the pads into working engagement with the materials; a pair of feed rollers at least one of which is driven for feeding the material between said pads; means mounting oneof said rollers' adjacent said first pad; means mounting the other of said feed rollers on said pad-mounting means to partake of movement therewith; driving means for effecting movement of the eccentrically movable pad and for driving through reduction gearing the driven feed rollers; said pads and feed rollers being in close proximity, of similar width, and both small relative to the area of material to be treated. v

2. A machine for surface-finishing hats made from felt and like pilous materials and for surface-finishing such materials, comprising a pad driven to move eccentrically but fixed in an axial sense; a feed roller fixed transversely in the plane thereof but driven for rotation; av cooperating pad movable in an axial sense only and releaseably carrying a feed roller free for rotation about an axis in a plane transverse to that in which the co-operating pad moves; treadle means for effecting axial movement of said cooperating pad to bring said cooperating pad and the feed roller mounted thereon with the material on them into engagement with the eccentrically movable pad and driven feed roller respectively; Asaid pads and feed rollers lying in close lateral proximity to the pads, of similar width, and all small relatively to the area of material to be treated; driving means for effecting movement of the driven pad member and for driving the driven feed roller through reduction gearing and a disconnectable flexible drive.

3. A machine for surface-finishing hats made from felt and like pilous materials and for surface-finishing such materials comprisinga frame having an overhanging portion and a single pouncing or like finishing pad, supporting and driving means therefor comprising a mounting movably supporting it from said overhanging frame portion with the operative surface of said finishing pad facing downwardly and for movement of said pad so that any point on the operative surface of the pad moves in a substantially closed. path whose plane is substantially coinci-I dent with the general plane of said operative surface and means for driving said pad at a suitable pouncing or surface-finishing speed, and

means for supporting the material against said driven pad and for feeding it along said plane at a speed and in a direction of movement independent of the speed and direction of movement of the surface of said pad, said feeding and supporting means comprising a member of relatively small effective area juxtaposed to said pad for supporting only a' small portion of the material against the said pad whereby only a part of the material is at a time presented to said pad and other portions not being operated upon remain free from direct support and may hang freely and loosely downwardly from said supporting and feeding means, said feeding and supporting means having a driven surface of relatively small area and moving at a low speed for engaging a small portion of said material and effecting movement of successive relatively small portions of the material between said pad and member, whereby the operator, grasping the material, may, because of said relatively small effective areas, cause any or all parts of the material, irrespective of the shape or conformation of the latter, to be fed by said driven surface into operative relation to said finishing pad, a single column-like support having sleeve-like means fixed relative to said frame for movably mounting and guiding said support for movement in a general up and down direction and toward oraway from said single driven pouncing pad, means mounting said feeding and supporting means on said single column-like support, and means manually controllable for moving said support and hence said feeding and supporting means upwardly or downwardly and hence toward or away from said single driven pouncing pad and for thereby controlling the pressure with which the material is held against the surface of said driven pad and the pressure with which it is held against said driven surface to affect respectively the operatic-n of said driven pad upon the material and the feeding action of said driven surface upon the material.

4. A machine as claimed in claim l in which the means mounting said feed roller onto said pad-mounting means comprises a connection that is resilient and that can yield as said padmounting means moves said roller to press the material against the other roller.

5. A machine for surface-finishing hats made from felt and like pilous materials and for surface-nishing such materials comprising a pouncing or like finishing pad, supporting and driving means therefor comprising a mounting movably supporting it for movement so that any point on the operative surface of the pad moves in a path whose plane is substantially coincident with the general plane of said operative surface and means for driving said pad at a suitable pouncing or surface-iinishing speed, and means for supporting the material aginst said driven pad and for feeding it along said plane at a speed and in a direction of movement independent of the speed and direction of movement of the surface i said pad, said feeding and supporting means comprising a member in the form of a cooperating pad free from driving movement and of relativelysmall eifectivearea juxtaposedto said pad and exposed upwardly toward the latter together with a feed roller positioned adjacent said member and also of relatively small effective area soi that said member and said adjacent feed roller support only a small portion of the material against the said first pad whereby only a part of the material is at a time presented to said rst pad and other portions not being operated upon remain free from direct support by said member and roller and may hang freely and loosely downwardly therefrom, a cooperating feed roller having means mounting it adjacent said first pad and substantially juxtaposed to said inst-mentioned feed roller and also of relatively small effective area, movable column-like means mounting said second pad and its adjacent feed roller and guiding means for said movable means for guiding it for movement in a direc-tion to move said second pad and its adjacent feed roller as a unit toward and away from said iirst pad and said second-mentioned feed roller respectively, means for driving at least one of said feed rollers to eiect a feeding movement. of the material when a small portion o-f the latter is gripped between said two feed rollers and an adjacent portion is pressed by said cooperating pad into operative relation to said first pad, and treadle means for controlling movement of said movable column-like mounting means and hence movement of said cooperating pad and its adjacent feed roller toward or away from said rlrst pad and said second-mentioned roller respectively.

GEORGE FREDERICK FARR. 

